tinker

• POS: Noun, Verb (intransitive)
• HYPHEN: tink=er

CIDE DICTIONARY

tinker, n. [From Tink, because the tinker's way of proclaiming his trade is to beat a kettle, or because in his work he makes a tinkling noise. Johnson.].

•  A mender of brass kettles, pans, and other metal ware.  Piers Plowman.  [1913 Webster]
•  One skilled in a variety of small mechanical work.  [1913 Webster]
•  A small mortar on the end of a staff.  [1913 Webster]
•  A young mackerel about two years old.  [1913 Webster]
•  The razor-billed auk.  [1913 Webster]

tinker, v. t. 

 To mend or solder, as metal wares; hence, more generally, to mend.  [1913 Webster]

tinker, v. i. 

 To busy one's self in mending old kettles, pans, etc.; to play the tinker; to be occupied with small mechanical works.  [1913 Webster]

OXFORD DICTIONARY

tinker, n. & v.
--n.
1 an itinerant mender of kettles and pans etc.
2 Sc. & Ir. a gypsy.
3 colloq. a mischievous person or animal.
4 a spell of tinkering.
5 a rough-and-ready worker.
--v.
1 intr. (foll. by at, with) work in an amateurish or desultory way, esp. to adjust or mend machinery etc.
2 a intr. work as a tinker. b tr. repair (pots and pans).

Derivative

tinkerer n.

Etymology

ME: orig. unkn.

THESAURUS

tinker

cobble, cobbler, commission, condition, coquet, dabble, dally, darn, do up, doctor, doodle, fiddle, fiddle with, fiddle-faddle, fidget with, finger with, fix, fix up, fixer, flirt, fool, fool around, fool with, fribble, frivol, horse around, idle, jerk off, kid around, little Miss Fixit, loiter, maintenance man, mechanic, mechanician, meddle, mend, mender, mess, mess around, monkey, monkey around, overhaul, patch, patch up, piddle, play, play around, play with, potter, puddle, put in commission, put in order, put in repair, put in shape, putter, ready, recap, recondition, renovator, repair, repairer, repairman, restorer, retread, service, serviceman, set to rights, sew up, smatter, tinker up, toy, toy with, trifle, trouble man, troubleshooter, twiddle

ROGET THESAURUS

tinker

Health

VB be in health, bloom, flourish, keep body and soul together, keep on one's legs, enjoy good health, enjoy a good state of health, have a clean bill of health, return to health, recover, get better, take a new lease of life, fresh lease of life, recruit, restore to health, cure, tinker.

Restoration

N restoration, restoral, reinstatement, replacement, rehabilitation, reestablishment, reconstitution, reconstruction, reproduction, renovation, renewal, revival, revivessence, reviviscence, refreshment, resuscitation, reanimation, revivification, reviction, Phenix, reorganization, renaissance, second youth, rejuvenescence, new birth, regeneration, regeneracy, regenerateness, palingenesis, reconversion, redress, retrieval, reclamation, recovery, convalescence, resumption, resumption, sanativeness, recurrence, rechauffe, rifacimento, cure, recure, sanation, healing, redintegration, rectification, instauration, repair, reparation, remanufacture, recruiting, cicatrization, disinfection, tinkering, reaction, redemption, restitution, relief, tinker, cobbler, vis medicatrix, curableness, restored, redivivus, convalescent, in a fair way, none the worse, rejuvenated, restoring, restorative, recuperative, sanative, reparative, sanatory, reparatory, curative, remedial, restorable, recoverable, sanable, remediable, retrievable, curable, in statu quo, as you were, phr, revenons a nos moutons, medecin, gueris-toi toi- meme, vestigia nulla retrorsum.

VB return to the original state, recover, rally, revive, come come to, come round, come to oneself, pull through, weather the storm, be oneself again, get well, get round, get the better of, get over, get about, rise from one's ashes, rise from the grave, survive, resume, reappear, come to, come to life again, live again, rise again, heal, skin over, cicatrize, right itself, restore, put back, place in statu quo, reinstate, replace, reseat, rehabilitate, reestablish, reestate, reinstall, reconstruct, rebuild, reorganize, reconstitute, reconvert, renew, renovate, regenerate, rejuvenate, redeem, reclaim, recover, retrieve, rescue, redress, recure, cure, heal, remedy, doctor, physic, medicate, break of, bring round, set on one's legs, resuscitate, revive, reanimate, revivify, recall to life, reproduce, warm up, reinvigorate, refresh, make whole, redintegrate, recoup, make good, make all square, rectify, correct, put right, put to rights, set right, set to rights, set straight, set up, put in order, refit, recruit, fill up, fill up the ranks, reinforce, repair, put in repair, remanufacture, put in thorough repair, put in complete repair, retouch, refashion, botch, vamp, tinker, cobble, do up, patch up, touch up, plaster up, vamp up, darn, finedraw, heelpiece, stop a gap, stanch, staunch, caulk, calk, careen, splice, bind up wounds.